It’s coming home ….. after a thousand years … well almost

Yep, that famous tapestry which is in fact an embroidery not a tapestry is coming home.

"Keep your eye on that one Harold"

That said technically it won’t be on view till September but the booking site for tickets opened today.*

But be aware that when the British Museum opened its site for Friends to obtain tickets apparently it crashed due to demand. 

I remain ambivalent at the event.  

I know it will be a wonderful experience, not least because the entire story will be on view laid flat for people to see it.  

But it begs questions of whether it really is the right thing to do.  

The “tapestry” is fragile and while every precaution will be taken including transporting it over land via the Tunnel it is very, very old.

And while I too feel the thrill of getting up close to a piece of history I question the practice of shifting such items around the world, when with modern technology its is possible to view something from your own screen, and not have to queue or been rubbing us against strangers.

Back in 1972 when Tutankhamun came to the British Museum on his holidays, we took ourselves off to see the man.  

King Tut

The line of eager lovers of all things ancient Egyptian wound around the museum forecourt and out along the street, and despite having made the effort to travel across town from southeast London it was a wait too long.

We sat in China Town, had a lunch time meal and decided we would try again another day, which of course we never did.

Did I feel disappointed?  No and nor half a century later do I feel I missed something.  True today ways of displaying these priceless objects and visitor management have improved but so has the art of the virtual display.

Book your ticket

All of which means I think I will content myself with viewing those dastardly Normans and the hapless Harold and his housecarls from our house.

Leaving the countless thousands who will be there in the museum to get their 40 minutes of history, marvel at the beauty of the tapestry/embroidery and relive the epich story.

And happily come away without an arrow in the eye.

Now the historical pedants will sniff and challenge the asserion that its a thousnad years old with the counter comment  that it ain't a thousand years old.  According to my Wikipedia "it may have been commissioned at the same time as the  Bayeux cathedral's construction in the 1070s, possibly completed by 1077 in time for display on the cathedral's dedication".**

But then when did It’s coming home ….. after 949 years have the same ring?

Bishop Odo

Location; the British Museum and our house

Pictures; bits from the Bayeux Tapestry, Ticket site, British Museum site and King Tut in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Roland Unger, 2016. Licensing; I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby publish it under the following licenses: GNU head Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled GNU Free Documentation License.

*Tickets from The British Museum, https://www.britishmuseum.org/exhibitions/bayeux-tapestry

**The Bayeux Tapestry, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayeux_Tapestry

Wattle and daub cottages in Chorlton

The story of how we lived here in the first half of the 19th century.


There may still have been upwards of fifty wattle and daub houses in the 1840s in our township.

They were constructed from a timber framework with walls made of branches woven together and covered with a mixture of clay, gravel, hay and even horse hair and topped with a thatched roof.

Samuel and Sarah Sutton brought up their 2 children in one of these cottages. Their home was one of two adjoining cottages situated on the Row and in every sense looked the rural part.

The white walls and wooden beams were partly obscured by ivy and the front door was approached through a small country garden. Behind the house and away from the view of strangers stood the privy and the back garden where the Sutton’s grew fruit, vegetables and flowers.

 There would be currant and gooseberry bushes, raspberry canes, rhubarb and mix of vegetables which made an important contribution to the family income and were often home to chickens and even a pig.

Such houses were easy to build and equally easy to maintain, but there could be disadvantages to living in them. The porous nature of walls meant they were damp and crumbling clay meant endless repairs.

According to a later Parliamentary report “Many of them have not been lined with lath and plaster inside and so are fearfully cold in winter. The walls may not be an inch in thickness and where the lathes are decayed the fingers may be easily pushed through. The roof is of thatch, which if kept in good repair forms a good covering, warm in winter and cool in summer, though doubtless in many instances served as harbour for vermin, for dirt, for the condensed exhalations from the bodies of the occupants of the bedrooms....”


Floors made of brick or stone were laid directly on the ground and were almost invariably damp, and in the worst cases reeked with moisture. Once the brick was broken, the floor became uneven and the bare earth exposed. This might be compounded where the cottage floor was below the ground outside or the floor level was uneven which caused problems of drainage. Even the proudest wife and mother must have been reconciled to damp and dirt which were the result of such floors.

The only heating would come from the open fire which might have been combined with a cooking range. On damp days when the coal or wood was wet the smell would permeate every room in the house. During the winter months the unheated bedrooms were particularly unpleasant places. On the coldest nights ice would form on the inside of windows.

Cottages of this design were often limited to four rooms, and some may have had only two, with the family living downstairs and sleeping on the upper floor. In some cases access to the bedroom was by ladder rather than stairs and in many cases bedrooms were left open. One surviving cottage in Chorlton from the eighteenth century did have a staircase which opened out to a big bedroom giving little in the way of privacy.

As for sanitation this would have been equally primitive. Nationally the rural picture was grim with privies often draining into open channels which themselves got blocked with refuse and so flowed too slowly to allow the waste to disperse.


Picture; Sutton’s Cottage circa 1892, photograph from the Wesleyan Souvenir Handbook of 1895 in the collection of Philip Lloyd

The Limited Stop ………….. the only way to travel

Now I remember the limited stop service that Manchester and SELNEC operated with a mix of fondness and frustration.

They were fine if you were at the start of the service and could sail happily through the city streets and on to your destination in half the time.

The 153 from the top of Penny Meadow in Ashton at 6 in the morning would get me into the heart of the city in a fraction of the time the 218 would take.

And if I was lucky, I might catch one of the limited stop buses onto Wythenshawe and work.

But of course, on a cold wet grey day, somewhere on the Ashton Old Road the sight of a limited stop bus was just a frustration as it zipped past without a second thought to those passengers waiting at the bus stop.

I seldom travel on the bus now, preferring the tram, so I am not even sure that the limited stop service still operates.  I could of course go and look, but where would the fun be in doing that?  Instead Reginald of Heald Green will offer up chapter and verse.

And in the meantime, I shall just reflect that Andy Robertson’s trip out to the Museum of Transport Greater Manchester on Sunday provided me with some excellent pictures of buses. *

Here be fine examples of Corpy blue buses from Ashton-Under-Lyne, the brash SELNEC livery and my own favourite, a red Manchester Corporation bus, from 1963.

And here for one moment I must confess I was confused, because I grew up in London with Routemaster buses, and travelled on the 161 from Eltham to Woolwich, and for one moment Andy’s picture took me back 40 years.

But this red Routemaster is a Manchester one, the livery is slightly different and those in the know will point out the technical differences.

All this I know because the Museum has a full list of its collection, and thus I know the details of all those Andy photographed. **

Location; Museum of Transport Greater Manchester

Pictures, from the collection of Andy Robertson

*Museum of Transport Greater Manchester, http://www.gmts.co.uk/index.html

** RM1414 - 414 CLT - AEC Routemaster 2R2RH - Double deck bus, from 1963, Manchester Corporation Transport,
 44 - PTE 944C - Leyland Titan PD2/37 - Double deck bus, from 1965, Ashton-under-Lyne Corporation Passenger Transport, 5871 - KJA 871F - Leyland Titan PD3/14 - Double deck bus, from 1968, Greater Manchester Transport

Well Hall on a wet day in 1964

Now just what do you do on a Saturday morning in early July when the rain is coming down like stair rods?

I rather think an adventure in the woods is pretty much out of the question and likewise the attractions of the market in Beresford Square or the ferry fall away as the rain just keeps falling.

After all even the upbeat market stall holders found their quick fire banter and optimistic sales pitch a bit harder when everything felt damp, while the sight of the Thames held little appeal when the rain clouds all but touched the water.

There were Saturday morning pictures but at 14 that all seemed a bit below me which just left the Library on the High Street and the bus ride down to Avery Hill.

In 1964 it would be a good two years before I started at Crown Woods and so this end of Eltham was still unexplored territory.

I am guessing I went into the hot house but I may have got that all wrong, although fast forward a few years and  I am convinced it was one of those places I visited on Sundays with new girl friends following the Saturday date at the ABC in the High Street.

There will be plenty who remember the scenario ........ the evening went well, you both wanted to see each other again but wanted a place more casual, and above all cheap.

So Avery Hill fitted the bill giving both of you that added advantage of being able to close down the romance and go your separate ways, allowing the rest of Sunday to be salvaged.

But all that was in the future, back in 1964 my options were more limited and ended up with a walk round the Pleasaunce, a trip up to Wilcox’s opposite the parish church and a trip up to London.

The train journey in itself was an adventure and the noise and bustle of London Bridge or Charing Cross could make up for what had been a dull morning in Well Hall.

At 14, pubs were still off bounds, but there were museums, art galleries and monuments to look at. All were free and most were out of the rain.

And of course by the time you got back the clouds had cleared, the pavements dry and the night held out all sorts of promise.

Location; Eltham

Pictures; Eltham, 2013 from the collection of Jean Gammons

“paying due honour to the wisest and most virtuous Statesman that ever appeared in any country” *….. the Manchester Pitt Club

Now until today Pitt Clubs were just a footnote in history books on the late 18th and early 19th century.

The Manchester Pitt Medal, 1813

And were something which I always meant to follow up but never did.

They were formed throughout the country in honour of William Pitt the Younger to “keep green the memory of one who had sacrificed so much for his country” and in recognition of his undoubted talents which began “at the age of thirteen [when] he composed a tragedy, at fourteen when he matriculated at Cambridge and became an orator at twenty-one. 

At twenty-three he was Chancellor of the Exchequer at the early age of forty-seven he was proclaimed the “saviour of Europe”.*

The first club was formed in London in 1793 and our own Manchester Club in 1813, and another forty-two were dotted across Britain, including ones in Liverpool, Bolton, Blackburn and Saddleworth.

Pitt addressing the House of Commons in 1794 

William Pitt has always been one of those politicians who I should know more about, especially as I am fond of his despairing comment "Roll up the map: it will not be wanted these ten years.”* on the news that the Austrian and Russian armies had been defeated by Napoleon's army at the battle of Austerlitz in 1805, which pretty much left Britain to face the "Corsican Tyrant" alone.

And it will be his role as Prime Minister during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars which will in part have cemented his reputation and contributed to the spread of the clubs.

All of which has led me to look up the records of the Manchester Club which contain for 1813-31 the minute, account and dinner books, as well as a list of members and are held at Manchester Archives and Local Studies, and Chetham's Library*

Thomas Walker, 1794

The real insight will be the members who I suspect will turn out to be no friends of the French Revolution and may will have applauded the Governments attempts to prosecute our own Thomas Walker for sedition in 1794.**** 

Mr. Walker had in his time held the most important post as Borough Reeve in Manchester, had campaigned against the Slave Trade, supported the revolution in France and had his town house on South Parade attacked by a Church and King mob.

So, I rather think there will be some rich picking in sifting through the story of Manchester Pitt Club.

The clubs had a short life and by the 1820s were on the decline.  But in their hey day they had been the place to go if were both a supporter of William Pitt and an avid ant Revolutionary. 

The focus of activities was the annual dinner which could be an elaborate affair.  The cost of the food and drink held by the London Club in 1808 ran to £841.  

The list of things consumed included 429 bottles of sherry at £139, 613 bottles of Port at £153, , 14 bottles of Madeira, £14 for “lights” , “£12 for “broken China” and another £8 for “broken glass”.  Added to there were the “87 Servant’s Dinner” costing £8 14 shillings and 6, which comes out at roughly shillings a head. And that is less than the brandy or the sugar consumed.

The reverse of the medal, 1813

Admission was by a badge or medal, and the Dudley Club’s cost 30 shillings each and were made of frosted silver while members of the London club paid £1 16s 6d.

And there was a strict protocol which demanded that “each member shall wear it at all meetings of the Club tied on his left breast with a garter of blue ribbon”.

Which brings to the Manchester medal which my old posty friend David Harrop has just acquired, and very impressive it looks.

But I can’t help but feel that back in 1813 I would not have been a member.  After all as Groucho Marx said, “I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member”, but in reality, I wouldn’t have been able to join and nor would I want to be part of a club which had as its members those who opposed the general principles of the French Revolution.

Location; Manchester, 1813

Pictures; The Manchester Pitt Club medal from the collection of David Harrop, Pitt addressing the House of Commons in 1794. The House of Commons 1793-94, by Karl Anton Hickel (died 1798), given to the National Portrait Gallery, London in 1885 and Thomas Walker, 1794

*Objectives of The London Pitt Club

**Garnett, S. Alan (1927). "Pitt Clubs and their badges" British Numismatic Journal. 19 (Second Series, IX): 213–218.

***Manchester Pitt Club, 1813-31: records, Manchester Archives and Local Studies, NRA 13262 Manchester, and 1813-31: minute, account and dinner books, list of members, Chetham's Library, DDX 354

****Thomas Walker, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search?q=Thomas+walker

Lydia Brown ……… Chorlton farmer and businesswoman comes out of the shadows ...... after 176 years

I wish there was more to know about Lydia Brown, because back in the middle decades of the 19th century she was a busy woman, here in Chorlton.

Brook Farm, undated

She lived at Brook Farm, and farmed 70 acres of pasture and arable land, stretching along the Brook from the Bowling Green pub almost as far as Barlow Moor Road, and south across the meadows.

She also had portfolio of properties, which included the smithy worked by William Davies on what is now Beech Road, the house and workshop of William Brownhill the wheelwright on Sandy Lane and a number cottages, one of which was occupied by John Axon who had been one of the founder members of our own brass band.

And she was a formidable woman, strong enough in her own knowledge of farming to call down her landlord who was George Lloyd who she spoke of contemptuously as “Squire Lloyd” .

Brook Farm, no. 314 and fields, 1847

This I know because in the summer of 1847 she told the journalist Alexander Somerville that Mr. Lloyd was damaging the land she farmed by his refusal to allow her to cut down a line of ash trees.

These, Alexander Somerville commented were “not only objectionable as all other kinds are in and around cultivated fields but positively poisonous to other vegetation, …… causing much waste of land, waste of fertility, and doing no good whatever.  Squire Lloyd is the landlord.  

Mrs. Brown, a widow, is the tenant.  She keeps the farm in excellent order so far as the landlord’s restrictions will allow.  

But neither herself nor her workmen must 'crop or lop top' a single branch from the deleterious ash trees”.

Now, there is something quite exciting at being able to hear the words of someone who lived in the heart of the township a full 173 years ago,

But there isn’t much else.

Despite trawling the census returns for Chorlton I can not find any reference to her, although tantalizingly there is a Mary Brown, in 1841, who despite the different name fits the profile.
Mary like Lydia was 50 in 1841, both had a son of the same name and both were married to a Johnathan.

Jonathan and Lydia Brown appear in the baptismal records for 1823, 1825, 1828 and ’31.
Jonathan described himself as a publican and according to Ellwood in his History of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, he was the tenant at the Horse & Jockey.  Jonathan is in the electoral register for 1832, 1835 and 1840 with freehold buildings at Lane End and on Chorlton Row, which fits with the properties listed as belonging to Lydia from 1844 onwards.***

The gravestone, 2011

And that is about it.  Brook Farm where she lived was on the site of the old dairy, which in turn was redeveloped into a  collection of des res properties on Brookburn Road opposite the school. I do have one picture of the house and know that it had nine rooms.

But we do have her gravestone which is still in the parish churchyard and is in itself a link to Mrs. Brown.

I just wish there was more.

Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy

Pictures; Brook Farm, undated, from the Lloyd Collection, the tithe map showing Brook Farm and some of the land farmed by Mrs. Brown, 1847, and the gravestone of Mrs. Brown, 2011, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*Somerville, Alexander, A Pilgrimage in Search of the Potato Blight, Manchester Examiner, June 19th, 1847

**Ellwood, T, History of Chorlton-cum-Hardy Chapter 23, Inns April 17th 1886, South Manchester Gazette

***Chorlton Row, is now Beech Road

William Barefoot and a day in the archives of the Peoples’ History Museum in Manchester

William Brefoot, date unknown

Now I have to confess that for me William Barefoot was just a name on a plaque in the Pleasaunce, and if pushed I could also point to William Barefoot Drive and a small park in Plumstead.

All of which is  particularly embarrassing given that we were both members of the Woolwich Labour Party and Mr Barefoot had along connection to Eltham as a councillor and to the history of Woolwich.

And it was while I was in the archives of the Peoples’ History Museum that I decided to take a break from researching the Great War and instead begin to learn more about this remarkable man.*

I knew that he had been born in 1872 that his father was a sadler and that the family had lived on Frances Street not far from the Dockyard and I vaguely also knew that he had been a councillor for Eltham for 33 years and was the Mayor of Woolwich not once but three times, all of which is an impressive record of municipal service.

But there was much more.

A Hall, Will Crooks 7 W Barefoot, 1910

“Will Barefoot fought West Woolwich several times without success, but it was as Agent for the Borough Party that he lived and died. 

From the days of his apprenticeship in the Royal Arsenal he was identified with the Trade Union, Socialist, Co-operative and Municipal life of the Borough.  

Woolwich Labour Representation Committee was one of the first to enlist ‘individual members’ and made national history in 1902 when Will Crooks was first returned to Westminster.  

Success followed in every direction and came primarily as a result of Will Barefoot‘s genius for organization.  
He was supported in all efforts by his wife and it was a poignant circumstance that Mrs Barefoot died within a few weeks of her husband’s passing.”**

He worked alongside Will Crooks the first Labour MP for Woolwich and would have been an active participant in many of the great events of the early 20th century from the election of Mr Crooks to the General Strike of 1926.

And during the Great War he was active on the London Food Vigilance Committee.

Food Vigilance Committees had sprung up across the country as a means of drawing attention to the sharp rise in the cost of living and set forth a clear set of policies, demanding greater control by both the Government and local authorities of food and fuel along with the participation of the Labour movement.

Inside the archives, 

So for me Mr Barefoot has come out of the shadows, and I rather think I will be spending more time in the Archives & Study Centre calling up material on his life and contribution.

“The Labour History Archive & Study Centre (LHASC) is the main specialist repository for research into the political wing of the labour movement.  

It holds the archives of working class organisations from the Chartists to New Labour, including the Labour Party and the Communist Party of Great Britain.  

From Salford, 2013

The collections provide an insight into the social, political and economic life of the last two centuries.

As well as the archives of political parties and leftwing pressure groups, LHASC collects the personal papers of radical politicians, writers and activists.  

The archives complement the objects, photographs and banners found in the museum collections and researchers may well find material of interest in both.*

William Barefoot Memorial, 2013

All of which may seem a long way from Woolwich, but I think not.

Sitting there yesterday reading the same material he would have handled I was reminded that we shared quite a lot.

Pictures; photographs of William Barefoot, Will Crooks and A Hall along with the interior of the study centre and view of the Museum from Salford, courtesy of Archives & Study Centre, at the People’s History Museum, Manchester, http://www.phm.org.uk/ and  William Barefoot Memorial in Well Hall Pleasunce, from the collection of Chrisse Rose, 2013

* Archives & Study Centre, at the People’s History Museum, Manchester, http://www.phm.org.uk/

** Report of the Annual Conference held the Central Hall Westminster May 25 to 28th, 1942